Tax hike would help libraries, Daley says

October 03, 2007|By Chicago Tribune

Mayor Daley defended a proposed property tax increase Tuesday, framing it as a way to operate the city's libraries and continue the system's modernization.

The mayor always insists property tax increases are a last resort. But a $108 million increase in the city's levy is the biggest single potential money source among a list of revenue enhancements under consideration to balance next year's budget.

"We have been very, very good in balancing our budgets over many years," the mayor said. "This year is a very difficult and challenging year, more than any other before."

If that is true, it would be worse than 2004, which Daley at the time said was "the most difficult and challenging" budget year in his then-14 years in office. In an 11th-hour decision that year, he opted for a variety of tax, fee and fine increases instead of raising property taxes.

His comments Tuesday indicated his decision may be different this time around.

"Everybody wants a new library," he said. "They also want extended hours. They want a lot of things with libraries. ... Libraries are extensions of the school system, of the learning environment."

Money collected from Chicago property owners have been used exclusively to fund three things in recent years: pensions for city workers, repayment of city loans and libraries.

But climbing costs of pensions and debt service next year will absorb the entire $713 million now collected from home and business owners, said city Budget Director Bennett Johnson III. Another $108 million in property tax revenue would cover library operating costs and support up to $140 million in bonds to finance construction of new facilities.

Other possible revenue enhancements proposed by budget officials include doubling the city's nickel-a-gallon gasoline tax, which Daley said would be the right thing to do.